The house once owned by retail icon Stanley Marcus officially
became a city landmark Wednesday in a quiet Dallas City Council
vote hailed as an example of cooperation between preservationists
and the private sector.

Mark Lovvorn, who bought the Lakewood house from Marcus in the
mid-1990s, said he was pleased with the outcome.

Two years ago, the city initiated the landmark process without
his consent after he announced he was going to tear the structure
down. After a brief but furious controversy, the homeowner reversed
his decision and announced he would keep the house and renovate
it.

"Although it wasn't my initial preference, I have been
pleasantly surprised how considerate and cooperative the city staff
has been," he said.

Even before the council vote was taken, Katherine Seale,
Preservation Dallas director, offered the case as an example of how
private landowners can live with preservation restrictions.

"Historic preservation has a bad reputation, that it keeps you
from doing what you want to do, and this shows that's not true,"
she said.

Lovvorn said that under the preservation restrictions, he must
get permission from the Landmark Commission to make visible changes
to the exterior of the original structure, built in 1938. But he
said he has been free to make substantial changes inside the house
and to demolish later additions.

The work will take about a year.

The house on Nonesuch Road in Lakewood was the scene of the
city's most glamorous parties from the late 1930s through the 1970s
with celebrities who included Grace Kelly and Jerry Lewis and
political figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Lord
Mountbatten.